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Grade-Five Students to Do PEP Mock Exams in June

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JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, has announced that grade-five students will sit the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) grade-six mock examinations in June.

 

In an interview with JIS News, Senator Reid said all the necessary arrangements have already been made for students islandwide to sit the examinations, of which they will be the first cohort to officially sit in 2019.

 

“We’re just working on the final Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) in March and then we will ramp up PEP,” Senator Reid said.

 

The Minister explained that administrators of schools and parents can expect ongoing updates regarding PEP, and reassured that there is no need for them to be alarmed about the new examination process.

 

“The first big ramp-up for PEP is to distribute what we call ‘learning material’ to schools and parents alike in their preparation for their PEP assessment in June, so people will become familiar with the type of questions and assessment that we will do under PEP,” he said.

 

PEP, which will replace GSAT as the national secondary-school entrance test, is intended to provide a better and more complete profile of students’ academic and critical-thinking capabilities at the end of primary-level education. It comprises a Performance Task Test, Ability Task Test and a Curriculum-Based Test.

 

The PEP will be rolled out on a phased basis beginning in September 2018, with students who are now in grade five to be the first cohort. They will do only the grade-six components in 2019.

 

Students who are currently in grade four will do their grade-five performance task in 2019, and in 2020 they will do the grade-six components.

 

Students who are currently in grade three will be the first cohort that will have a complete profile generated. This means that they will do the grade-four performance task section in 2019, grade-five performance task in 2020 and all grade-six components in 2021.

 

The PEP grades will be made available to schools in the third week of June every year.

 

CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, addresses a Primary Exit Profile (PEP) Town Hall Meeting at Jamaica College in December 2017.